Low noise, 0.4-3 GHz cryogenic receiver for radio astronomy

R Gawande; R Bradley; G Langston

doi:10.1063/1.4900446

Low noise, 0.4-3 GHz cryogenic receiver for radio astronomy

Rev Sci Instrum. 2014 Oct;85(10):104710. doi: 10.1063/1.4900446.

Authors

R Gawande¹, R Bradley², G Langston³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903, USA.
² National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903, USA.
³ National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, West Virginia 24944, USA.

PMID: 25362437
DOI: 10.1063/1.4900446

Abstract

We present the design and measurement of a radio telescope receiver front end cooled to 100 K physical temperature, and working over 400 MHz to 3 GHz frequency band. The system uses a frequency independent feed developed for operation as a feed for parabola using sinuous elements and integrated with an ultra-wideband low noise amplifier. The ambient temperature system is tested on the 43 m radio telescope in Green Bank, WV and the system verification results on the sky are presented. The cryogenic receiver is developed using a Stirling cycle, one stage cryocooler. The measured far field patterns and the system noise less than 80 K over a 5:1 bandwidth are presented.